The Director of Duco Events, David Higgins, has been left lamenting a double blow to the lead up to the Joseph Parker vs. Hughie Fury fight taking place in Auckland on May 6.

Hughie Fury’s father and trainer, Peter Fury, had his visa denied by New Zealand immigration on Wednesday morning due to a chequered past which saw him spend time in jail in the mid-nineties.

Higgins said it was a disappointment.

“We heard the news this morning, we’re a little disappointed of course but the fight’s going to go ahead as planned on May 6, Parker-Fury,” Higgins told Newshub.

Peter Fury is also trainer of nephew and former world champion Tyson Fury and while Higgins said his absence would be a blow to the Fury camp, it would ultimately make little difference into how Hughie performed in the fight.

“Hughie is unbeaten and an English amateur champion and he was trained by Peter Fury so he’s got those skills that Tyson Fury has. Peter Fury is the second best trainer in the world so you can’t underestimate what Hughie will bring. Hughie has fought without Peter in his corner before in New York, so we’ll see what happens.”

In addition to Wednesday’s developments, Higgins also revealed that the New Zealand Government had rejected Duco’s requests for sponsorship assistance.

“We did put in an application in quite comprehensive to look for some sponsorship support and in return the benefits of global promotion and everything that comes with it, we received a letter advising that no there would not be any support.”

The same situation occurred before the Andy Ruiz fight in December with the New Zealand Government refusing to offer assistance. Subsequently, Duco Events had to seek help from the Samoan Government.

And Higgins said the decision could maybe be put down to New Zealand not used to having a stronghold in a non-traditional sports market.

“I think what Joseph Parker’s achieved is pretty ground-breaking and its bringing viewership from countries that never knew New Zealand existed.

“New Zealand’s traditionally been strong in quite traditional Commonwealth sports like rugby and cricket but boxing is massive in other parts of the world; Eastern Europe, Latin America, parts of Asia as well as those traditional economies.

“It’s an Olympic sports, 150+ countries compete in it so it offers something quite different, maybe it’ll take more time for New Zealand to get used to what that means.”

With just ten weeks before the Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn fight, it appears that there may be a snag as conflicting reports have come in regarding the location of the fight. Although both Duco Events and Top Rank have indicated that the fight was to take place at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane Australia, Pacquiao’s advisor and marriage counselor Michael Koncz threw a curveball yesterday when he announced from Abu Dhabi that the fight would “100%” be held in the United Arab Emirates.

The announcement came as a surprise to many fight fans in Australia, but Duco Events head Dean Lonergan still believes the fight will go forward in Australia.

“Duco have been working with Top Rank over the past three months to have the fight in Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.” Lonergan told Fightnews.

“We are nearing completion of the deal, and as far as I’m concerned Top Rank is the exclusive promoter of Manny Pacquiao and until Top Rank tells me otherwise we shall continue to try and get this deal done.”

Lonergan is hopeful to finalize the deal in the coming week.

“We had discussions today with the team of Top Rank that we continue on. I like to think that if we get a deal done it will be in the next week.”

Lonergan also told Fightnews that he “would be very surprised” if any other city or state could be ready to host April’s Pacquiao-Horn fight in “such a short space of time.”

David Higgins of Duco Events, who is the co-promoter of WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, will be at WBO Head Office in San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 1 when the purse bid for Parker’s mandatory defense against WBO#2 Hughie Fury will be decided. Frank Warren, who is the promoter of Fury, is expected to be in Puerto Rico also when the envelopes are opened.

“The stakes are very high and it’s a nervous situation,” Higgins said. “You have to try and predict what the revenues are going to be and then bid the most you can. If you bid too much you could lose a lot of money very quickly. And if we don’t bid enough, we lose control. We want to fight in New Zealand because we want home advantage. Last year was an Olympic year and Joseph Parker was the most Googled of any New Zealander.

“I’d like to think there’s a better understanding now of how big it is especially now Joseph is world champion. That last fight was watched in 100 television markets. Nearly every sport you can name receives government support and given the fight would attract international visitors and profile you’d like to think it would be seriously considered. I don’t want to pre-empt anything but we probably will prepare a proposal and see if there’s a willingness to make it happen here in New Zealand.

“If he were to beat Hughie Fury his stocks in the UK go through the roof. That sets up a juicy unification bout with the winner of [Wladimir] Klitschko and Joshua. If Joe fought Joshua it would sell out Wembley – you’re talking 100,000 people and millions globally. That could be as soon as June.

“Alternatively you could have Tyson, Hughie’s cousin, calling for his belt back. Another option would be Wilder. That’s another possible unification. So by the end of this year, provided Joseph keeps winning, he could have been in two worldwide events and be a global superstar. But winning is the key in boxing.”

WBO light flyweight champion Louisa “Bang Bang Lulu” Hawton (7-0, 3 KOs) talked to Fightnews and said she is looking forward to her boxing idol WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao’s (59-6-2, 38 KOs) title defense against Jeff Horn (16-0, 11 KOs). The card will be in Australia, though the venue where the fight will be contested hasn’t been finalized.

“The Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn is the biggest news for Australian boxing and will go down in history as this country’s biggest fight,” said Hawton. “Id love to be on that card fighting alongside Manny in my country of Australia and it would truly be a dream come true. I am dubbed the female Pacquiao and I am Australian-Filipino defending the same WBO organisation title. Also I’m Australia’s only current WBO World Champ. I need that break to be seen around the world. I hope Top Rank and Duco Events will give me that opportunity.”

Hawton resides in Perth, Western Australian and is proud that her mother was born in the Philippines and lived in the same city as Manny Pacquiao. Louisa Hawton captured the WBO light flyweight title by outscoring Kei Takenaka (11-1-0) over ten rounds in Japan last August. Hawton is trained by former world light middleweight contender Mark Janssen.

WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker will likely be ringside on April 29 at the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko IBF, WBA heavyweight title bout in London to call out the winner and unify the titles. “That’s what we want – to unify the belts and we are willing to lose trying,” said David Higgins of Duco Events. “If the other belt holders shared our views it would fix the heavyweight division. Any heavyweight worth their salt should be looking to unify the division and hold all the belts. When the belts aren’t unified, the public are confused about who is the champion.”
Parker, who is promoted by Duco Events and Top Rank, captured the WBO championship on December 10 in Auckland, New Zealand, with a twelve round majority decision over Andy Ruiz.